Laree Payne announce representation of Tāmaki Makaurau based artist, Sarah Smuts-Kennedy. Alongside this news they share that later this year and for the first time, the gallery will present at Sydney Contemporary, showing a solo presentation of new work by Smuts-Kennedy in the FUTURE section, Booth D01.

With a career which spans more than twenty years, Smuts-Kennedy has developed a practice which is generative in and of itself, generous to those who encounter the work and genuine in that it follows and maintains logics and methodologies which are not always easy to uphold. Smuts-Kennedy's energy works, which currently manifest primarily as drawings and sculptural installations, are the visual representation of ever-present energy systems. In the later half of 2022, Smuts-Kennedy along with fellow energy worker Kathy Barry, presented a major exhibition at Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery. For the exhibition catalogue, curator of the exhibition Christina Barton wrote "...[Smuts-Kennedy] suspends conscious decision-making in favour of attuning herself to the invisible energies inherent in her environs. These are held in her works between a palpable spaciousness, an openness and poise, and points of tension and concentrated gesture. Together these convey the humming shimmer of the physical world, in both its immaterial and material dimensions."

Sarah Smuts-Kennedy holds a PG Dip (2010) and an MFA (2012) from Elam School of Fine Arts. Recent exhibitions include Energy Work (alongside Kathy Barry), Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, 2022; Leaning into the Shine, Laree Payne Gallery, 2022; Joy Field, Sumer, 2021; When The Dust Settles, Artspace Aotearoa, 2021; Energy in Quiescence, Sophie Gannon Gallery, 2019; Frequency of the Earth, ArtSpace Aotearoa, 2017; Light Language, Te Uru, 2017.

View work by Sarah Smuts-Kennedy on lareepaynegallery.com


IMAGE: Sarah Smuts-Kennedy in studio, image courtesy of the artist.

Previous Next